


You Can Take My Heart, You Can Take My Breath

by Anath_Tsurugi



Series: Love Is the Answer [2]
Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: Rebels
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Anal Sex, Established Relationship, F/M, Jedi therapy, M/M, Oral Sex, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Vaginal Sex, Wall Sex, Xenobiology, all the soulmate aus
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-04
Updated: 2021-03-04
Packaged: 2021-03-17 07:56:17
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,365
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29838450
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anath_Tsurugi/pseuds/Anath_Tsurugi
Summary: "It- broke me...when that bond was cut," Kallus recounted, his voice unsteady. "I had bled for it...killed for it...in a way, I had died for it...and they took it from me. As easy as peeling off a glove...they stole a part of my heart from me...the part that was good...that was true and worth saving...the part that Zeb loved. They stole it from me," he hissed, feeling the sting of tears as they pushed their way through his closed eyelids."Do you really believe that?" he heard Kanan asking him. "That the part of you that's worth saving is lost?""Yes," he answered.-Alexsandr Kallus did not escape the Battle of Atollon completely unscathed. In escaping Thrawn's wrath, the soul bond he shared with his former enemy, Garazeb Orrelios, was severed, leaving the two partners to face an uncertain future.Now, with Zeb off to face the Empire on Lothal with the other Spectres, Kallus will have to face the demons of his own past in order to be able to move forward, to rebuild what has been broken and shape the better galaxy he's always dreamed of, not for some unknowable concept of the greater good, but for the sake of the man he loves.
Relationships: Alexsandr Kallus/Garazeb "Zeb" Orrelios, CT-7567 | Rex/Ahsoka Tano, Cassian Andor/Jyn Erso(implied), Kanan Jarrus/Hera Syndulla, Thrawn | Mitth'raw'nuruodo/Eli Vanto(mentioned)
Series: Love Is the Answer [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2178141
Comments: 15
Kudos: 36
Collections: Kalluzeb Mini-Bang 2021





	You Can Take My Heart, You Can Take My Breath

**Author's Note:**

> Hwoo, okay, a little late to the party here, but here is my contribution to the Kalluzeb Minibang, as well as the long anticipated sequel to my first soulmate AU. (Hehe, no pressure to live up to expectations or anything, nooooo. *inwardly panicking*) Well, nothing for it but to forge ahead and hope I can at least give you something worth reading. But yes, this is a direct continuation of 'When You Pry it From My Cold, Dead Chest', so I suppose you could *try* to read this story without first having read that one, but you would be quite lost. And...well...without further stalling on my part, here we go.

_ "The destinies of most sentients are not written out quite so... _ **_vulnerably_ ** _...as yours are." _

_ Red eyes peer at him out of the darkness. Red eyes and a cruel smile. _

_ "Please. Not this.  _ **_Anything_ ** _ but this. If you want to kill me, just kill me. Please don't do this. Please!" _

_ The image of the words within his mind is perfect. Written across his skin in vivid purple letters, shimmering faintly... _

_ 'Only the Honor Guard of Lasan may carry a bo-rifle!' _

_ So many times. So many times he's come close to losing them...those precious words. But now- _

_ "There is no mercy, Alexsandr Kallus. You have betrayed the Empire – the Empire to which you promised your very breath. So we will take that breath  _ **_back_ ** _ now. And you...you will have an eternity to pass without breath, suffocating on the very air in your lungs." _

_ The inquisitor's touch is cold when she seizes his arm, but it quickly becomes hot with the rage of her power. And he can feel that heat inside of him. He feels that scalding wrath penetrate to the heart of him. _

_ He feels his soul burn. _

_ He wouldn't recognize the voice that screams in anguish as his own, but that hideous sound is the only thing that can even come close to expressing what this feels like. He can feel something inside of him dying as he watches the beautiful lines of his soulmark transform into veins of living fire, charring into ash with the remnants of his hope before vanishing entirely. _

_ The moment of the breaking is like death, and it's only made worse by the knowledge of what the heart at the other end of the severed bond must be experiencing even now. _

**_Zeb...oh, Zeb. What have I done?!_ **

_ And again those burning red eyes, merciless and unfeeling. _

_ "You chose this way yourself, Kallus. Never forget that. Whatever transpires today,  _ **_he_ ** _ will bear the punishment you have incurred." _

A strangled cry of horror escaped Kallus' throat as he jerked awake.

The vestiges of the night terror still clung to the edges of his mind, but it didn't take him long to realize that he was no longer Thrawn's prisoner. He was safe aboard the  _ Ghost _ . Safe in the arms of his lover.

Garazeb Orrelios.

Shifting minutely within the confined space of the bunk, Kallus cuddled closer against his sleeping partner, trying to lose himself in the warmth of his fur and the thick, musky scent of him. Even now, more than a month after Atollon and...the loss of his soulmark...he still found himself waking with nightmares like this.

Unsurprisingly, Zeb had not been awakened by his antics. While Kallus was a  _ painfully _ light sleeper, he had quickly learned that Zeb could sleep through even the worst storms, as Yavin IV had had plenty to throw at the nascent Rebel Alliance.

It was almost...strange to him, to have Zeb, to have  _ comfort _ , so near at hand. Comfort was something he'd had precious little of in his life, and as he burrowed into Zeb's warmth, he still couldn't help but wonder if it was really something he deserved.

_ But you'll never shake that guilt, will you. That  _ **_fear_ ** _... _

Failing in his efforts to shake off his dark thoughts, the ex-Imperial sighed, pressing a kiss to one of Zeb's lightly twitching ears before disentangling himself from his partner. It seemed he would not be getting any more sleep tonight, so it was going to be yet another excruciatingly early morning.

Crawling from their now shared bunk, Kallus felt around the small space for his clothing. He had not even been aboard the  _ Ghost _ for a full cycle before Ezra was insisting he was moving out of the room he'd previously shared with Zeb. How the young Jedi had caught wind of their, ah...initial activities following Atollon, he had no idea, but he supposed he could hardly blame the boy for being traumatized by the thought of him and Zeb-

Not that it mattered a great deal anyway. Kanan, Ezra, and Sabine hadn't even remained with the  _ Ghost _ long enough for them to reach the Yavin system. They had split off with the rest of the young Mandalorian's comrades to help end Imperial occupation on Mandalore. And while they had been off fomenting further rebellion, he and Zeb had had the time to themselves to learn one another better.

Both emotionally and physically.

It had meant a great deal to him, to have Zeb at his side throughout it all. Not just for adjusting to life in the Rebellion, for facing the mistrust or even outright hatred of many of its members. No. Those things he had been prepared for. What  _ neither _ of them had been prepared for...was the notion of some of the rebels that they were somehow...abominations.

He hadn't known it back before Atollon, but word of his and Zeb's soul bond had spread quickly through Phoenix Cell, and word had spread just as quickly of its loss following the battle. A situation such as theirs...it was completely unprecedented. To be severed from one another...but still alive. It was frightening. And he knew he couldn't blame people for being afraid. Many did try to be kind regarding their...condition...but many more could not conceal their horror at the existence of the severed pair.

Shattered but still clinging to one another...like battered pieces of flotsam in a storm.

Ever since returning from Mandalore, Kanan had been working with him to try and figure out a way to regain his soulmark. Nothing they'd tried had come anywhere close to succeeding. Zeb still possessed amber in his field of vision, and would occasionally report other flashes of color flickering in and out. So it seemed the problem lay not with him, but with Kallus himself.

These last few days, he had gone out early in the morning to meet with the Jedi, before he had to be on shift and before Kanan would meet up with Ezra for their own regular training. But this was even earlier than he normally woke. He doubted Kanan would even be awake yet. Even so, he would head out, maybe take a little extra time to get into the necessary head space...

"I  _ know _ you're not goin' out at this un-Ashla hour," Zeb grumbled from the bunk just as he finished dressing. "Y'should come back to bed."

Kallus gave a fond sigh as he crossed the few steps back to the bed, dropping to one knee beside it. "I will do no one any good lying here unable to sleep," he said, leaning down to press a kiss to his partner's lips. "Go back to sleep, my love. I'll return in an hour or so."

"Mm, there's other things we can do if you can't sleep, y'know," Zeb mumbled, voice thick with sleep.

"Be reasonable, Garazeb," he started with a small laugh. "We can't have sex  _ every _ time I can't sleep."

"We  _ could _ . It's an option. You're just  _ choosing _ not to."

Again Alex laughed, placating his lover with one last kiss. "Maybe so, but  _ you _ at least require sleep, and if you're a good boy and get enough rest, I promise you can kriff me up against the wall when I get back."

"Promise?" the Lasat grumbled peevishly as he rolled away from him.

"Promise."

"Fine. But I'm holdin' you to that. I don't care how late we are for morning shift."

"Fair enough," Kallus conceded as he got back to his feet.

" _ L'ashkerrir an, _ " Zeb mumbled, barely awake.

Kallus stopped in the doorway at the sound of those words, feeling that same flutter of unbound  _ joy _ in his heart as he had the very first time Zeb had spoken them. He hoped it never stopped.

"And I you...my dearest Zeb," he said softly, adoringly, before allowing the door to slide closed behind him.

Kallus took no weapons with him when he departed the  _ Ghost _ , despite every instinct he had always begging him to. The very first time they'd gone out into the jungle, Kanan had insisted he wouldn't need any weapons.

"Are you crazy?" he'd asked, certain the knight hadn't yet been informed about the local fauna. "Do you have any  _ idea _ what's out there?"

Kanan had simply given him a shit-eating grin and offered up cryptically, "Only what you take with you."

Whatever  _ that _ meant. Still, Kallus had obeyed, and he had not found cause to doubt Kanan yet. This particular morning was no different, if not a touch earlier than even  _ he _ rose. The sky had barely begun to lighten as he moved through the dense jungle. He'd likely have had trouble finding his way if he didn't already know where he was going. However, much to his surprise, their usual clearing was not deserted when he arrived.

"Couldn't sleep?" Kanan asked as Kallus stepped into the circle, clearly having been sitting in meditation for some time already. As had been the case on all the mornings prior, he was not wearing his typical mask.

"I don't know that I've slept properly  _ since _ Atollon," he admitted, tired of his own stoic front. He had learned quickly that the knight could read him like a holobook. "Though neither, it seems, could you."

"Call it a hunch," the Jedi said, nodding to indicate he ought to sit down beside him. "Feel up to contemplating your innermost self this fine morning?"

"As much as one ever  _ is _ 'up' for such a task," he conceded as he came to sit beside the man he had previously hunted. "Though Zeb did try to argue that it isn't even properly morning yet."

"And he was right. Unfortunately for those of us with normal biorhythms, the Force says 'jump' when and where it wants to, so we mortals must abide. Let me see your arm," he said, holding out his hand.

" _ See _ , Kanan?" he joked half-heartedly as he rolled up the sleeve of his jacket, resting his forearm in the Jedi's outstretched hand.

"I can see better than you can right now," Kanan returned in a similar tone, caught somewhere between joking and serious. Exhaling, he brought his other hand up to run his fingers over the skin where the soulmark had once been, and when he winced at whatever it was he was feeling, Kallus was once again grateful  _ not _ to be able to feel it.

"Close your eyes," the Jedi told him.

Kallus did as he was bid, easily quieting the skeptical voice in his mind that had grown smaller and smaller since he'd watched the inquisitor burn away a piece of his soul.

"Quiet your mind," Kanan coached him.

Kallus knew the Jedi had not found it easy to convince him to let go of the tight patterns of control Imperial conditioning had worked him into.  _ He _ still didn't find it easy to just...let go. To give up control of his mind and his thoughts and allow himself to just...be. The closest he came was his state of mind when engaged in a particularly fierce fight ― the sort where he had gone beyond gauging his opponent and plotting his own moves and had simply become lost in the rhythm of the moment...the dance of it. He couldn't say how much time had passed when he became aware of Kanan's voice again.

"When you first realized Zeb was your soulmate...what did you feel?"

"Relief," he answered without having to think about it. "Even though I had tried- to give it up...I had feared that my partner had died soon after Lasan. There was something...freeing...in finally hearing those words spoken aloud."

"But...?"

"That relief was immediately followed by anger."

"Because he was your enemy?"

"Because  _ I _ was  _ his _ ."

"What do you mean?"

"I think I had always known...from the moment I was able to understand the words on my arm...that there would be enmity between my partner and I. The older I became, the more I was prepared to hate myself...for all of it. When the moment finally came...all I had left was anger...hatred...for him, myself...for the galaxy and everyone in it. I tried to tell myself I'd done the only thing I  _ could _ do..."

"But you knew different."

"Deep down...I suppose...yes. I didn't  _ begin _ to consider the implications of any of it until after Bahryn...and then everything was happening so quickly...and Zeb was forgiving me everything...even if he shouldn't have done. I loved him...so fiercely in those days. I clung to it when I was weak...in my darkest moments..."

"And then you were captured."

Kallus gasped, any response he might've had slipping away from him as the memories pierced his awareness, sharp and unforgiving.

Thrawn's red eyes...his cruel sneer...

The inquisitor's chilling voice...her molten, scorching touch as she-

" _ NO! _ " he cries out in anguish, struggling to pull back, to turn away from the horror of it.

"No. Don't run from this. Stand your ground, Fulcrum," the Jedi's voice comes to him again, firm but not unkind, guiding him in the darkness. "We're so close now."

So Alex let the memory play out, trembling, but not looking away as he relived his worst moment.

"It- broke me...when that bond was cut," he recounted, his voice unsteady. "I had bled for it...killed for it...in a way, I had  _ died _ for it...and they took it from me. As easy as peeling off a glove...they stole a part of my heart from me...the part that was good...that was true and worth saving...the part that Zeb loved. They  _ stole it from me, _ " he hissed, feeling the sting of tears as they pushed their way through his closed eyelids.

"Do you really believe that?" he heard Kanan asking him. "That the part of you that's worth saving is lost?"

"Yes," he answered, voice still unsteady, but certain. "I don't- doubt his love...but why should someone as  _ wonderful _ as Garazeb Orrelios...be bound to such a broken creature as this?" He had taken comfort in Zeb's promises...after Atollon...but did he believe himself worthy of them?

No.

"That's it, then."

Inhaling sharply, Kallus suddenly found himself blinking his eyes open in the grey pre-dawn light to find Kanan now sitting in front of him, unseeing eyes gazing rather pointedly into his. Kallus had to resist the urge to pull back from him.

"I...what?"

"That's why you haven't been able to regain your soulmark. It's because you aren't certain you deserve to have it...that you don't want Zeb to be tied to you when, in your view, he has the chance to be free."

"It- would seem so. Yes," he said quietly, achingly, as he let his gaze drop to the small patch of dirt that separated them.

"Then there isn't anything  _ I  _ can do to help you," Kanan told him, reaching a hand up to grip his shoulder. "Until you  _ know _ what it is that the two of you share, that bond won't return."

Kallus inhaled slowly before giving a long sigh and looking up at the Jedi. "I understand. Thank you for everything you've done."

"Don't give it up for lost yet, Kallus," Kanan scolded him mildly as he climbed to his feet. "Zeb's a stubborn one. He'll help you scrub out that Imperial mindset. You just need to give him a chance to prove himself. Go back to him. You two can probably get in a little extra time before the day gets going."

"Right. I'll...catch up with you," he said, voice still little more than a whisper. Not watching Kanan go, the only indication he had that the younger man had done so was the quiet sound of his footfalls.

What could he do? He'd  _ wanted _ to earn freedom for his partner, freedom from the horrified stares and frightened whispers, freedom from being seen as an abomination...but how could he do that without chaining his beloved to someone who was less than worthy?

XxX

What Kanan couldn't bear to tell Kallus was that he had felt flickerings of his soulbond awakening within the Force.

It was pain to him, to reach out and touch the ex-Imperial's splintered spirit with his mind. There was no denying that what the Empire had done to him was far worse than merely erasing a few marks on his skin. His very  _ soul _ was wounded in a way even Kanan himself could barely begin to fathom.

But whenever they worked together like this and the former agent really began to focus on the weight of what he'd lost...Kanan would begin to hear the echoes of that shattered bond, to see the severed threads within the energy that surrounded Kallus. The bond was not lost, not gone beyond hope or help...but neither he nor Kallus quite understood how to mend what had been broken. It seemed the answers could only be found by Kallus himself. Not by Zeb or anything Kanan could do with the Force.

Despite his unquiet thoughts, the journey back to the  _ Ghost _ was comparatively peaceful as he felt the sun's warming rays beginning to shine through the dense Yavin jungle. The peace of the early morning gave him the courage to reach for his own bond within his darkened world.

His bond with Hera had been the light he had clung to when he'd first lost his sight. Even though he was no longer able to look down and see its comforting green glimmer on his chest, he could still feel the truth of it within the Force, could know and feel it like a golden lifeline shining out in the darkness. At first, he had cleaved to that line like a lost child clinging desperately to a rope in a snowstorm, knowing that letting go of the rope meant death. It had only been with time that he'd learned to loosen his hold on that line, venturing further and further into the shifting forms of his darkness as he had learned to see with more than just his eyes.

But he followed that line now like a well worn footpath as he stepped onto the old freighter, knowing every place the path dipped and curved as he followed it toward his soulmate.

After Atollon, when he had first been confronted with the horror of what had happened to Kallus, of his and Zeb's plight, he had almost immediately been driven to the comfort of his own soulbond, fingers that had only too recently passed over the tattered, jagged remnants of the ex-Imperial's soulmark seeking the familiar feel of the words upon his own chest. He had been desperate to feel the pulse, the  _ life _ within that bond, and he knew that need had made him the fiercest lover he ever had been when Hera had pulled him into her arms in those few fleeting moments they'd had before he'd had to leave with Sabine and Ezra.

Having brushed so closely with the fine line between Alexsandr Kallus' hope and his despair, he felt a similar need now as he crossed the threshold into the cabin he now shared with his partner.

He had felt Hera beginning to stir from the moment he had entered the  _ Ghost _ , and he could hear her now as he moved toward their bed. Despite the breaking day outside, he was already exhausted.

"Good morning, love," she called softly to him as he came to her. "How did things go with Alex?"

"Made some progress, though...not necessarily in the direction any of us wanted," he explained heavily, hands beginning to trace the familiar contours of her body as he knelt on the bed. Before she could ask him anything more, he bent down to capture her lips with his own.

Hera surrendered to the kiss with a small sigh of pleasure. He opened his mouth to hers to receive the tiny sound, his tongue slipping past her lips to twist sinuously with hers. They both reveled in the depth of that kiss for several moments before he began to trail kisses down onto her neck.

"Mm, don't forget, love...there's still work to be done today," she reminded him gently as she arched her body into his touch.

"There is...but at least another hour...before either of  _ us... _ needs to do it," he said between lavishing her neck with kisses.

She understood his meaning, his  _ need _ , quite well without words. It varied to a healthy degree which of them would take the lead in their off hours activities, but today it would be him. He needed the shelter of her harbor, the quiet joy and tender familiarity of sinking deep within her waters and losing himself in the ebb and flow of energy between them. Hera relaxed easily into it as he worked his mouth slowly down her body.

Hera only ever wore panties and a cami to bed and he didn't bother removing them as he moved downward, letting his mouth linger on the tip of one breast through the thin fabric, then lifting that fabric just a little when he reached her belly button, tongue swirling in the little dip before he continued on.

The only piece of clothing he bothered removing was his gloves, wanting to feel her beneath him as he moved between her legs, breathing in the scent of her and sampling the taste of her through the thin fabric of her panties. He kept at this for several drawn out minutes, laving his tongue persistently over her sex, feeling how wet she was becoming beneath that fabric as he worshipped her with his mouth.

The Twi'lek gave several appreciative groans as she rolled against him, her fingers moving to tangle in his tied back hair. He was only vaguely aware of the moment the tie came loose, spilling his hair around his face like a rough curtain.

"Ungh...K-Kanan...tongue... _ now _ please," she commanded gently, her muscles beginning to spasm with the nearness of her climax.

Kanan wasted no time, pulling his mouth away and pulling her panties down just far enough to allow him to plunge his tongue into her, moaning in pleasure at the feel of the warm slick gushing to meet him.

He needed only a few sure strokes of her clit before she was coming, crying out softly as she bucked against him, her fluids flowing down his chin and into his beard, where he'd likely be able to taste her for the rest of the day.

It was their rule, both his and hers, that she came first; and he had not broken that rule in many years, so by now, the response was fully conditioned into him. The sound of her orgasm, the feel of it between them, drew him to full arousal as she guided him back up her body. Pulling him into a kiss, she reached to undo his belt, pulling everything down just far enough to let him out, to slide easily inside of her.

He made love to her slowly, luxuriantly, finally allowing himself the release of  _ her _ , of  _ them _ , of everything that they were together as he moved in her. With every move, he felt her wrap her legs and arms around him, drawing him even deeper inside of her, as close to becoming one being as they could physically manage, and as they moved, she sang to him.

It was a song without words, a gentle lullaby with a bubbling undercurrent of joy. On those rare occasions when they dreamed together, he had heard it played directly from the strands of her soul, sung in his own voice.

It was her heartsong ― the melody that had been sung only for her in her dreams from the moment of her birth. His voice had comforted her as a child, been with her as she'd grown to womanhood, unseen, unknown, but already beloved.

He had never been much of a singer, but he sang with her, harmonizing in their own way as they sank into the perfect depths of their soulbond.

_ I love you. I am with you always. I am never without you. _

" _ Never alone _ ," he cried out sharply as he reached completion, buried as deep within her as he could go, and with a tiny gasp from both of them, she was filled with his essence.

Neither of them could've said how long they lay like that in their post-coital daze. All he knew was the feel of her heartbeat beneath his ear as he rested his head against her breast. He would've been perfectly content to lay just like that for the rest of the day.

But he also felt he'd come to know something in the time that had elapsed since he'd left Kallus in the jungle and this moment.

They never  _ were _ alone. Neither of them. No matter what might happen, their bond was forever.  _ Nothing _ could take it away.

"I love you," he whispered into her skin.

"I love you, too, Kanan," she returned just as softly as her breathing returned to normal, pressing a kiss to the top of his head. "Unfortunately, love won't get the inspections done today."

"Hey, it might. You never know. Have you tried?" he teased her.

" _ How _ you would go about trying something like that, I have no idea, but I'd rather not find out. You get ten more minutes, Jarrus."

"Wouldn't have it any other way," he said with a helpless smile, hunkering down to get as much cuddling from those ten minutes as he possibly could.

XxX

Zeb was drawn from his slumber by the scent of Alex nearby.

Inhaling the precious scent several more times, he allowed his eyes to blink open to the sight of his lover sitting next to him on their bed, gaze fixed somewhat blearily ahead. Despite their emptiness, those amber eyes were the only point of color in his world of black and white. He could see the despair in them, but those yellow-brown splinters were beauty itself in this colorless void. They were proof that Alex was alive...that they were  _ both _ alive. Whatever struggle they were going through now, whatever pain, to him that color was proof they could overcome it, if they could only figure out how.

"Didn't get much done?" he asked as he rolled onto his side, reaching a hand over to rest it on his partner's knee.

Zeb knew Alex had heard him, but the man didn't respond for several minutes, continuing to stare at the wall of their bunk without really seeing it. When he finally did turn to look down at him, it was with a tired but adoring smile on his face.

"Learned a thing or two, though not really much beyond what we already knew," he said as he leaned down to press a kiss to his lips, gently caressing the side of his face.

Zeb leaned into the touch with a pleased purr, kissing his lover with zeal. But before Alex could pull away from him, he mirrored the gesture, gently gripping the side of the human's face in his massive hand.

"Hope you haven't forgotten about yer promise now," he said with an inviting smirk and a raised eyebrow, which Alex returned with a small, secretive smile of his own.

"Certainly not. We have a little less than an hour before I need to meet with Andor. So how would you like me, Captain Orrelios?"

"Like you said before," he started, the heat in his belly beginning to rise as he sat up. "Up against the wall."

Alex smirked for him as he stood from the bed. Zeb's breathing quickly grew huskier as he scooted to the very edge of the doubled bunk, spreading his legs wide and drawing his lover to stand between them. He had taken to sleeping in the nude when they had gotten the room to themselves, so that tended to make this sort of thing easier.

But Alex? Alex was still fully clothed.

"Look at ya. All perfectly pressed and ready for the day," Zeb started, his clawed fingers playing about the human's belt. "We're gonna have to change that." 

Alex drew a shuddering breath when he leaned in close, inhaling the scent already coming off him.

"I- hope I might prevail upon you not to rip anything this time," he said, voice a touch higher than normal as Zeb pressed his nose to the pulse point in his neck. "There's little enough clothing to spare on this base."

"Yeah, but if you're still usin' words like 'prevail' while you're pressed up against my naked body, I'm doin' somethin' wrong. So if ya don't want anythin' damaged, ya might think about strippin'," he teased, claws slipping carefully inside the belt, reaching to scratch delicately at the skin just beneath his tucked shirt.

His lover groaned softly when he planted his mouth against the pulse point, beginning to suck on it. He felt the human's shoulders shifting as he started to shrug off his jacket.

He didn't leave off his attentions to that fragile human skin until he heard the jacket drop to the floor, followed soon after by the gloves. He pulled back from his partner's neck with a tiny  _ pop _ , taking a moment to admire the beginnings of the bruise that was forming just above the neckline of his shirt.

"Zeb," Alex scolded only mildly, seeing the direction his gaze was pointed in.

"What? I assumed ya just meant clothing when ya said don't  _ tear _ anythin'," he pointed out, keeping his gaze fixed on Alex's face as he moved slowly down his chest, straight down to his belt line. He took barely a moment to undo the clasp before he was pulling up the hem of his shirt, plunging his tongue into the dip of Alex's belly.

That drew a much more pronounced moan from the human's lips, causing Zeb to growl as he nipped, sucked, and licked at the sensitive skin. Alex's hands traced up to his shoulders, then further up to grip at his head as he swirled his tongue over the sweat-tinged flesh he had in his mouth. He was pleased to note the obvious bulge already forming in his partner's pants.

"Uhnh...Zeb... _ please, _ " Alex was already begging him, "please... _ more. _ "

"A little patience there,  _ Captain, _ " he scolded jokingly, running a single claw along that growing bulge and drawing a needy cry from his lover's lips. "Don't want ya poppin' off too soon here."

Alex managed a small laugh at this. "And...and here I thought... _ you _ were the one eager...to have me up against the wall- _ oh! _ " he cried out sharply when Zeb suddenly yanked his pants and undershorts down just far enough to free his growing erection, allowing him to lap the tip into his mouth and give the swelling head a fierce lathe with his tongue. The cry that followed this action was suitably loud and pleasure-wracked.

"Oh, I'm eager," he told the human, looking up at him with a smirk to see those amber eyes grow smoky in their lust. "Doesn't mean I can't enjoy a good pre-show. How 'bout ya get yerself ready for me?" he suggested, not even having to look when he reached into one of the storage compartments for their lube.

Alex had snatched it from him almost as soon as it was out of the compartment, kissing him feverishly before beginning to back away from him. By the time he'd stumbled back against the far wall of their bunk, he'd managed to kick away his pants, leaving him in only his shirt and undershorts, his stiff, darkening prick already standing proudly out from the dark fabric.

His partner maintained eye contact with him as he slathered his fingers in the lubricant, and Zeb let his gaze slip away from the feast of those beautiful eyes for only a moment when the human reached down to slide his dripping hand into his tight undershorts.

He couldn't see much of what his lover was doing beneath that sinfully tight undergarment, save for the subtle movements of his wrist, but he didn't need help imagining it when he lifted his eyes back up to Alex's. That lovely smoky quality in them only became more pronounced with every movement, his cheeks flushing a color Zeb could no longer see as he worked slowly into himself with his own fingers.

"Mmm," he groaned, feeling his own stiffening cock beginning to properly emerge from its sheath. Coaxing it all the way out with a few harried squeezes, he began to stroke himself as he watched. "Tell me how it feels."

Alex's eyes fluttered several times as he resisted the urge to close them, knowing how Zeb loved to see them. "Like...like  _ nothing _ compared with you, my love."

"How many ya got in ya?" he pressed, stroking himself a little more intently.

"Two," Alex described, biting down on a whimper. "I have two fingers inside me...and...and this is three.  _ Oh, Zeb, _ " he couldn't seem to help moaning as he half-collapsed against the wall.

"Open yourself up  _ real _ good for me," he said, voice becoming more of a growl with every moment.

"Yes... _ yes...unh _ ...I feel it. Want you...want you in me. Want to feel split open on that cock."

"Hngh... _ yeah _ . Kriff yourself open on those fingers,  _ ashkerra, _ " he snarled, barely noticing the subtle roll of Alex's hips.

"Zeb...Zeb,  _ please _ ," he moaned. "I'm going to come. I'm-"

In only two strides, Zeb was on his feet and across the room, pressing himself right up against Alex as he seized him in a kiss, bringing his movements to a halt.

"You're not comin' until you've got my cock buried as deep in that ex-Imperial arse as it'll go," he growled against his partner's lips, fingers tangling briefly in his longer hair.

"Oh...stars,  _ yes! _ " he half-whimpered, both of them clumsy and desperate as they yanked his undershorts down. The garment was left snagged around his right ankle when Zeb hoisted him up on the wall, plunging eagerly into the tight, dripping ring of muscle.

The cry Alex gave when he was fully sheathed inside him was a wordless sound of pleasure that warmed Zeb's ears to hear. The human didn't need much encouragement to lift his legs up and wrap them around Zeb's waist.

"Take me, Garazeb," Alex hissed in his twitching ear. "Take me _hard!_ _Na lithir'a kith an sylf orror na lithir'a jital._ "

_ Fuck me like you will never fuck me again. _

And damn if  _ those _ words didn't light a fire in the former guardsman. With an animalistic snarl, he began to thrust in and out of his partner like there was no tomorrow. Alex's debauched cries drove him to heights of energy he didn't usually have this early in the morning, driving him to wring further noises of delight from his lover's lips.

Alex came quickly, screaming his orgasm as his cock spurted a full load of yellow-white semen all over Zeb's heaving chest.

"Ungh...Alex," he whimpered, the tiny cry in his voice completely at odds with the power and ferocity of his pounding rhythm.

"Stars...stars... _ stars _ ...oh, my Zeb," his partner sobbed, body trembling badly with pleasure and the beginnings of overstimulation as he was boned hard against the unyielding surface.

When Zeb finally reached his climax, it was with the tiniest of sobs, the little sound utterly at odds with the literal jet of spunk he gushed into Alex's pliant, overwrought body. As he spilled, he felt the barb in his prick shoot free, latching him deep inside his partner as he filled him with cum. The added stimulation of the barb pulled a final wave of painful pleasure from the human and Zeb barely managed to muffle his even louder screams by stopping his mouth with a kiss, drinking in that wild, unrestrained sound like water.

And for a moment...one single moment...he thought he saw the world burst with color once more.

_ Alex... _

Once it was all over, Zeb could've half-sworn he had blacked out from it. But whatever  _ had _ happened, as his awareness slowly began to return to him, he found himself leaning heavily against Alex, pinning him firmly against the wall as they breathed together. Alex's fingers were stroking absently through his fur.

"Good morning, Captain. Sleep well?" his partner teased him, though his voice was still obviously wrecked from their exertions.

"Oh, haha, Bright Eyes. Very funny. So how long was I out of it?"

"You're still latched, so not very long."

"Bit more cuddle time, then. Can you hold on?"

Alex responded by tightening the grip of his legs around Zeb's waist and slinging his arms around his neck. Zeb then slid his hands beneath the ass he was still firmly entrenched in, supporting Alex's full weight as he walked them back over to their bed. Falling easily back onto the semi-soft surface, he came to rest with Alex sitting on top of him, though the well-satisfied human was hardly able to sit up straight after the thorough dicking he'd received.

"Gettin' real good with yer Lasana there,  _ ashkerra _ ," he said with a lazy grin, his hands reaching up to trail along Alex's thighs.

"Well, I  _ am _ a very quick study," Alex said as he leaned down over him, trailing kisses up his jaw to his ear to whisper to him, " _ gal La hasher ka'in  _ **_sultiri_ ** _ sir an, ni ashkerra. _ "

"Got that right,  _ ni ashkerryl _ ," he said with a tiny growl and a nip to the human's neck, and despite the fact that Zeb was still buried balls' deep in his ass, the new endearment brought a tiny flush to his skin. Zeb couldn't see the proper color of it, but for a few brief snatches of moment, he found he  _ could _ see the color of Alex's scars.

He had seen them only once before losing color, and even then it had been only the scars that adorned his left arm, where his soulmark had been. But it had not been long after that he'd seen that the scars covered his entire body...that his attacker on Onderon had left no inch of him unscathed. Logically, he understood where those raised marks stood in contrast to the normal color of his skin, but to see the mottled scarring stand out now from the greyscale Zeb was trapped in...they were like slashes of burning light in the darkness.

Zeb had taken to not reporting when he saw flashes of color, because they were never there very long and it broke his heart to see how Alex's spirit would break every time he lost color. Indeed, the scars were already fading back to grey as he let his fingers trace slowly up his partner's body, following the paths he knew those lines carved beneath the human's shirt ― the only piece of clothing he still wore ― moving until the scars terminated just below his collarbone and then allowing his hands up to cup Alex's face between them.

" _ Sastyrial _ ," he whispered, his thumbs tracing the warm skin just beneath his amber eyes. The color that had changed his world. The only color that had never left him.

But it was more than just the color.

It was the fire and the faith and the honor it represented. It was the truth in himself that Alex had never given up on, even when he had tried to give up what they might've had together for lost. Yes. Beneath scars and nightmares and horror, Alexsandr Kallus was still beautiful.

But then Zeb noticed the sheen of tears in those eyes he adored so fiercely, noticed a few teardrops escape just before Alex turned his head to the side and pressed a lingering kiss to the palm of his hand. Once he had had enough of the kiss, he raised a hand to Zeb's, his much smaller five fingers holding Zeb's massive four against his face.

"Will I still be beautiful...even if the color never returns?" he whispered, alone in the dark quiet of their bunk, the one fear he still had.

"Even then," Zeb returned. "Whether I can see color or not has nothin' to do with who you are on the inside. They hurt ya, they tried to kill ya, but it doesn't matter. Nothin' they do can hurt what you'n me are together. There's beauty inside you no inquisitor or grand admiral can touch,  _ ni ashkerra. _ "

He couldn't wholly describe the look on Alex's face at his words. Something in that expression was shattered, but...maybe something was beginning to mend, as well.

"You truly believe that?" he asked.

"I do...and the minute you figure that out, nothin's gonna be able to stop ya."

"Well...for  _ your _ sake, I hope you're right," Alex said with a sigh as he looked down at his cum-stained shirt. "I'm going to need to wash this before I can show my face off this ship."

"Guess we don't want a repeat a' the hangar incident," Zeb said with a smirk. At least...he supposed no one  _ else _ would want a repeat of the hangar incident, but he couldn't say  _ he _ would mind it. Only that was also the moment he felt himself unlatch, his barb retracting and allowing Alex to lift himself off of him, his small wave of semen spilling noisily from inside his lover's body. But before he could make an effort to actually stand from the bed, Zeb was grabbing hold of him, flipping him so that he was pinned against the mattress.

"Zeb!" Alex protested only half-heartedly.

"Guess that's the most logical way to get ya to stay here with me, though. Get yer clothes so dirty ya can't show yer face in polite society."

"A rebel base is hardly  _ polite _ society, Garazeb Orrelios."

"What say I give you a good stiff kriffing right through this bunk, eh? Just one more time? Just for good measure?"

"Oh, I suppose you might as well."

XxX

Despite showing up for his meetings in an obviously damp shirt, the rest of the day proved to be one of Kallus' better ones, with things running as smooth as they ever did, a few new codes broken and some potential leads and contacts turned up. It wasn't until the day began to end, and the ex-Imperial was on his way to meet Zeb for the evening meal, that he received one of his more egregious blows.

"You're the one, aren't you?" a voice entered his ear. "The  _ dead one _ ."

The ex-Imperial froze upon hearing the words. He had been called many things since his official defection from the Empire ― liar, hero, traitor, spy, unforgivable ― all of which he had expected and rightly so.

But this was none of that.

Turning slowly in the direction of the voice, Kallus found himself looking at a young Weequay woman. He didn't know her name, could only vaguely recall her face from the latest batch of recruits, and he couldn't quite define the way she looked at him as she appeared from behind a Y-wing. It wasn't the hatred he was used to from his detractors, or even the fear he got from many of the others. This...this was something like wary pity.

"I...I'm sorry?"

"The one whose soul is untethered. In living, dying. Why would- you subject your partner to that?"

Kallus couldn't say with any certainty, but he felt his heart may have actually stopped in that moment, his delayed response an exhalation of shock...a dying breath...

" _ What? _ "

"If your bond's already been severed...if it cannot be healed...why would you force this half life on Captain Orrelios? Why not- let him move on?"

_ Why not let him go? _

If Kallus had thought his heart couldn't break further, it was doubly painful to be proven so wrong in that moment. Just how many shards could his soul shatter into before...?

"Believe me," he started, voice strained as it passed through the tightening muscles of his throat, "if there were  _ anything _ I could do...that would be for his good, then I'd-"

" _ Tani! _ "

The sharp voice drew the attention of both him and the young Weequay, jerking their eyes across the hangar to see a steely-eyed Rex, standing there with his arms crossed over his chest, shaking his head in slow disapproval.

"Don't you have somewhere to be right now, shiny?"

"Yessir. Sorry, Captain," she said, offering an awkward salute before going her way, leaving the clone to approach the devastated ex-Imperial.

"Walk with me," Rex said, and Kallus could do little more than heed to the command in his voice, following him out into the gathering Yavin twilight without so much as a word. He didn't mark how far they'd gone or how long they'd walked by the time the older man began to speak again.

"Hope you're not gonna take what Tani said  _ too _ much to heart. She's just a kid. Doesn't know any better."

"It's not...as if I haven't  _ tried _ ," he said, unable to prevent the small tremor in his voice.

"Tried to  _ what? _ " Rex pressed, voice going sharp once again as he looked at him.

"To let him go," he whispered, voice breaking, not really caring if Rex saw this. "Ever since Lasan...it seems I have done nothing  _ but _ let him go...but I just go on hurting him...no matter  _ what _ I do."

"And if you think any of this karking 'I'm letting you go' static would make Zeb happy, you're  _ wrong, _ " the old captain snarled at him, the tone drawing the ex-Imperial's gaze up to his scalding one. "You didn't see him after what they did to you. All you saw was his relief to find you alive. You have  _ no idea- _ "

Rex suddenly seemed to bring himself up short, holding himself back from whatever it was he'd wanted to say. Then he sighed, and Kallus couldn't completely make out his expression in the dark, but he thought he saw something saddened in it.

"We've never...talked about Ahsoka, have we. You and me."

"No," he answered softly after several moments' hesitation. As a piece of information, he had been aware of the fact that the clone had been soulbound to his onetime mentor, but that was the extent of his knowledge. "No, we have not."

"How well did you know her?" Rex asked him.

"I...it's- difficult to explain," he started. "In terms of actual time known, not well. It was one weekend. Ahsoka Tano...pulled me out of a difficult situation when I had reached the end of my tether. And she showed me the way to move forward. But...over the course of that weekend...she taught me the things I would need to know...unveiled her network before my eyes...and she...listened. She was there to hear me when I had no one else. So that, even though we only knew each other for those few days...I felt as if I  _ knew _ her," he struggled to explain, though he did at least see a hint of knowing amusement in the old captain's eyes. "If... _ any _ of that made any sense."

"Made perfect sense to me, actually. She had a way of seeing a person's pain, did Ahsoka. If anybody could've got you to open up, it would've been her."

"I wish I'd had the chance to know her better."

"Me, too. She was a woman in a million, my commander," Rex said, sighing again. "I suppose you know she was my soulmate."

"Yes. Zeb told me."

The old captain looked thoughtful for a moment, but before he spoke again, he began to remove his chest armor. "So he told you how my soulmark disappeared the day she died?"

"Yes?" he said uncertainly, raising an eyebrow in confusion. What was the old man doing?

"Kallus, I've never shown this to anybody before, so I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't go spreading it around, but..." Rex didn't finish his sentence, but anything he might've had to say in that moment would've been lost on Kallus, because when he lowered the neckline of his shirt, the ex-Imperial was greeted by the faint blue glow of a soulmark, shimmering there at the center of the other man's chest.

'Had to happen sometime, Rex.'

Kallus reached up a hand without thinking, but thought better of actually touching the mark barely a second before his fingers would've brushed against the clone's skin.

" _ How? _ " was all he managed to ask when he could finally get himself to speak again, the word voiced in a trembling whisper.

"I don't know."

"Does it- I mean...is it possible she's still alive somewhere?" he pressed. How could a vanished soulmark return unless...unless...

"I doubt it.  _ If _ she were alive, she'd be here with us."

"So...then..."

"Like I said, I don't know. But what I  _ think _ happened...is that the mark came back when I realized she wasn't really gone."

Kallus' eyebrows knit together in confusion as his gaze lifted from the mark back to the clone's face. "How is- that different from her still being alive?"

"Hrgh, I'm not explaining this very well," Rex grumbled as he let his undershirt slide back into place. "I mean...yes...I still lost her. But the love we shared isn't gone. That bond is still with me. What I felt...what I  _ feel _ for her is always going to be part of me. No matter what happens...that  _ cannot _ be made otherwise. Nothing can  _ unmake _ this bond. Not really. That's why I thought you needed to know about this. Because...once you see it can be the same for you and Zeb, then you just might get that mark back."

Kallus felt himself trembling as his eyes fell to the covered mark, having to once again resist the urge to reach for it. Hands clenching into fists, he closed his eyes for a moment, breathing in, breathing out.

"Thank you," he said as he allowed his eyes open, lifting his gaze to Rex's. "Thank you for showing me this...for  _ trusting _ me with it. I don't know- if I  _ believe _ that yet...but I suppose I may come to...given time."

"Well, I said it to Zeb once and I'll say it to you now," Rex said as he pulled his armor back on. "If Ahsoka trusted you, that's good enough for me. You'll get there. But we should probably start heading back or they're gonna wonder what happened to us."

Kallus fell easily instep with his fellow captain, allowing the older soldier to lead the way back without much commentary. The kind of certainty Rex spoke of...the unshakeable faith...the ex-Imperial wasn't even certain his heart still had the capacity for it.

But he had to try. He loved Zeb and for his sake, he had to  _ try _ .

XxX

Not that Kallus had been expecting life on a rebel base to be easy, but having to butt heads with Saw Gerrera made things distinctly unpleasant for him, calling up whispers of memory, flashes of pain and fear that he wanted no part of.

_...claws catching, tearing through his uniform...the blood flowing down his skin in horrifying rivulets... _

_ "Don't- don't do this." _

_ "...and you  _ **_are_ ** _ terrified. I can  _ **_smell_ ** _ that on you. Smells nice." _

_...the pain, the soul-deep  _ **_agony_ ** _ of having his mark torn into...the feel of hands on his body...hot breath against his bared skin... _

_ "Let's see if this dear mate of yours still wants you after  _ **_I'm_ ** _ done with you." _

There wasn't a night  _ since _ Gerrera's transmission he hadn't woken screaming from a nightmare, either of the partisan leader and his Lasat mercenary or of Thrawn and the inquisitor. And Zeb had been there for him, cradling him and kissing away the tears he only allowed to fall in the dark stillness of their room. The nights when his partner was away on the Jalindi mission were...difficult...to say the least. And by the time the  _ Ghost _ returned from her mission and word had come down that Mon Mothma was looking for volunteers for a mission to Lothal, he had been more than prepared to step up with his stores of knowledge about Imperial operations on the planet.

But then General Dodonna had pulled him and Rex aside.

"We've located Gerrera."

"How'd you manage that one?" Kallus heard Rex asking as an emotion he couldn't quite name began to stir in his heart. "Thought he pulled away clean after Tonnis."

"We've had word from the Cloud-Riders out on Zeshareem. Apparently Nest heard about the Jalindi fiasco and thought it might be better that we were informed of Gerrera's movements."

"So what did you call us in for?"

"To send you in as emissaries. Mon Mothma is holding out one last hope that an understanding might be reached between us...that we might present a united front to the Empire's sundering tactics."

"With all due respect to Mothma's support for peaceful solutions, I dunno how likely that is to happen," the clone said as he crossed his arms over his chest. "I've never once known Saw to back down from the hill he chose to die on."

The general sighed, his shoulders slumping minutely as he looked between them. "Privately, I agree with you, Captain, but for the sake of this barely begun Alliance, I must publicly support her decision. We cannot know what the Spectres will encounter on Lothal, so we must be prepared to at least  _ try _ to stand together."

_ For the sake of the Alliance... _

"Why us?" Kallus asked quietly, fully aware that, mentally, he stood at the edge of an abyss, but he could not let that show outwardly. His entire life thus far had taught him only that he  _ must not _ fall, but neither did he know how to move forward...to get past that yawning chasm of blackness that was fast surrounding his mind.

_ Why  _ **_me?_ **

Dodonna's look softened as he focused his attention fully on Kallus, letting the ex-agent know he hadn't completely succeeded in keeping his precarious mental state concealed, but the old man's compassion was appreciated nonetheless.

"Because neither of you will be taken in by that mad man's rhetoric. It saddens me to say that many of our own would be pulled in by Gerrera's passions, by his drive to achieve victory at any cost. Rex has known him since the beginning, has seen how far he has fallen. And you...you have seen firsthand what those costs are. I believe that of all the people on this base,  _ you _ will not allow yourself to forget what truly matters...that if we allow ourselves to become our enemy in our quest to defeat them, then we have won nothing at all. I believe you can be that voice for this rebellion, if you are willing," Dodonna reassured him. "I know this will not be an easy assignment for you to take on."

_ For the sake of the Alliance... _

No, it would not. But it was not about what he could or could not do. It was about what the Alliance  _ needed _ .

"No. It won't. But we are not here for what is easy," was his ultimate answer.

So he'd agreed to the mission. He'd agreed and before long he, Rex, and Cassian were dropping the Spectres off for their rendezvous with Vizago and he was kissing Zeb goodbye, clinging to him in one of the  _ Ghost's _ out of the way corridors, out of sight of the others.

"Don't do anything stupid," Zeb warned him, large fingers tangling in his hair, as they did when they were alone.

Kallus managed a small laugh at his words. "That's my line," he said, nuzzling the side of his face against the Lasat's hand, breathing in the scent of him while he still could.

"Maybe so, but I worry about you. I know what this mission means to you and if I have to threaten Rex with a wallopin' to make sure you're still on this ship when he brings it back to Hera-"

"You won't have to," he said, trying to maintain a light tone of voice even as he took in his lover for what may well be the last time. "I've no plans to die today."

"Nobody does," Zeb said in a tone much more serious than his typical one before drawing him into another kiss, this one more intense and aching than the previous one. But when their lips fell from each other, they still didn't separate, cleaving to one another with their foreheads pressed together. "I'm not gonna die before you get your words back. So you'd better not go before I get color back."

"Even if that means we must live forever?" he whispered, only half-joking, his fingers carding almost desperately through Zeb's fur.

"Well...I'm up for it if you are," Zeb said, his lips shifting into a smile against Kallus'. "I thought you were dead once...it just about killed me. I'm not lettin' you go this time. Never will.  _ La sylfa damir sir eblin armohrryl kol an. _ "

_ I would walk to the end of eternity with you. _

"I'll never leave your side," Kallus heard himself promising in a feverish echo of Zeb's words to him after Atollon. "I'll come back to you." It was the promise he'd made to Zeb, to himself, when he'd had no idea if they really  _ would _ see each other again. "I  _ will _ come back to you."

"I know you will."

Then Zeb was gone, and Kallus was light years away, his arms cold and empty as he relived their last embrace over and over again.

"You awake in there, Kallus?" Rex called to him as he piloted the  _ Phantom II _ down through Zeshareem's atmosphere. "Gonna need you firing on all cylinders for this one. No way to know what we're walking into down there."

"Right. Of course," he started, shaking himself as he performed another round of scans, finding nothing of note. "On course for Juli Outpost."

"No response from the Riders yet, but we should be pickin' up their signal soon. Then we can get to work."

"Did Dodonna say what this Enfys Nest had-"

Kallus' question was cut off in spectacular fashion when an inbound alert shrieked through the little shuttle. The former ISB agent didn't even have time to check what the threat  _ was _ before a bolt of electricity burst through the cockpit, causing both men to scream in pain. Kallus barely managed to retain his hold on consciousness once the current had finally passed. Somewhere nearby he heard Rex groaning.

"Ungh...karking...kark-"

"Rex," he mumbled, gaze focusing blearily ahead to see them on a collision course with the ground. "Rex, we're- we're going down!"

"Power," the clone ground out, his hands fumbling for the controls. "The power- everything's dead. We've got nothing!"

They had only minutes. Barely even that.

"Engines," he groaned, thoughts jumbled from the electric shock.

"Right. Just gonna have to coast on whatever's left of the thrust," Rex said, no more lucid than Kallus was, barely managing to hold onto the controls. "Here goes nothin'. Brace yourself!"

The impact with the dirt was jarring, but not devastating. With Rex's course corrections, the shuttle skidded harshly across the ground for several minutes before ultimately grinding to a halt, leaving them both hanging limply in their restraints.

"What- what  _ was _ that?" he heard Rex trying to ask, struggling with his restraints.

"Don't know," he mumbled unhelpfully, hands shaking with the residual force of the electricity. "The scan didn't- detect it until-"

He was silenced by an aggressive  _ banging _ on the hull of the downed shuttle. Within moments, the rear door was being forced open from the outside, leaving both men woefully unprepared to fend off the attack when it came. Kallus was still struggling to free himself from his restraints when he saw Rex taken down by a stun blast.

" _ Rex! _ "

"Oh, wait. What's this here?"

Kallus froze when he heard those words spoken in that voice. For a moment, it was as if no time had passed at all...and he was back on Onderon...the scent of his unit's charred flesh heavy in his nose as he was slowly pulled apart by massive, uncaring clawed hands.

And then the owner of those hands actually stepped into view.

The years had not been kind to the Lasat mercenary. He bore even more scars than he had on Onderon and he seemed to have lost an eye. But for all the years of grief, terror, and hatred that were behind him, all Alexsandr Kallus could manage to do in that moment was stare up at the object of his nightmares in abject horror.

"Heh, by the Ashla, I'd know that uptight Imperial  _ scream _ anywhere," the mercenary taunted, sneering down at him as he used the muzzle of his collapsed bo-rifle to lift Kallus' chin up. "Hello there, Imperial  _ dog.  _ Miss me?"

Kallus was so paralyzed by shock and pain and dread, he couldn't even manage to spit a denial. All he could do was hang there trembling, even his voice well beyond his control as several whimpers of sheer terror slipped past his lips. The Lasat looked nothing so much as ravenous as he reached his other hand forward to lightly caress the side of his face.

"Nothing to say there,  _ ni djek’aki? _ You  _ have _ missed me. Sure you must've done nothing but think of me since the last time I was  _ with you. _ Oh, but I am going to  _ enjoy _ this," he said, his fingers tangling in Kallus' hair in a sick parody of Zeb's gentle touch before he was suddenly rearing his hand back into a fist, delivering a devastating punch that rendered Kallus blessedly unconscious.

**Author's Note:**

> So...shall we continue?
> 
> In the meantime, I suppose I had best leave all you lovelies with some Lasana translations.
> 
> L'ashkerrir an - I love you
> 
> Ashkerra - Love
> 
> gal La hasher ka'in sultiri sir an, ni ashkerra - and I see what it does to you, my love
> 
> ni ashkerryl - my lovely
> 
> Sastyrial - Beautiful
> 
> ni djek'aki - Ah...exact translation is 'little peck', connotation-wise it's the Lasana equivalent of a certain derogatory English phrase for the female genitalia


End file.
